Malindo Airlines booking, Lion Air announced on Monday it will set up a low-cost budget airline in Malaysia (Malindo Airlines) that will take off in March 2013 as part of an aggressive regional expansion.
The move will see Lion Airlines, which controls nearly 51 percent of the air travel market in Indonesia, playing catch-up to the region's top cheap airfares and lowcost budget carrier AirAsia. It follows AirAsia's recent acquisition of Batavia Airways in a bid to tap Indonesia's 231 million population with the launch of Malindo Airlines.

Lion Airways will own 48.5 percent of the new airline, Malindo Airways, and Malaysia's National Aerospace and Defence Industries the remaining 51.1 percent. Lion Airways President Rusdi Kirana said Malindo Airlines will start flying between the three countries with a fleet of 12 new Boeing 737 aircraft in March, before expanding to other cities in Southeast Asia, selling overseas plane tickets and cheap flights.

He said 14 aircraft will be added each year to bring the total fleet to more than 102 in a decade. This includes adding Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets by 2015 to fly to routes in Australia, China and Japan. Rusdi said booking plane tickets airfares prices will be competitive for Malindo Airlines, either in the same range as rival AirAsia or "even smaller." The airline's fleet of planes will be fitted with a lower-than-usual 150 seats coupled with inflight entertainment and light meals, he said. It aims to offset lower revenue per plane due to fewer or lesser seats with higher frequency flights.

Lion Air, which began operations and flights in 2000, currently flies to destinations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. It operates a fleet of 102 planes and has 387 planes on order. Apart from Malindo Airlines, the airline is setting up a full-service premium cheap airfare carrier in Indonesia named Batik Airlines, which will start operations in March next year.
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Malaysian officials said that Malindo Airlines will provide the regional budget air travel industry with healthy competition and help the country reach its aim of becoming a regional aviation hub, competing with Singapore and Thailand. Lion Air will manage the carrier while its Malaysian partner will handle training and plane maintenance.

Lion Air's attempt to enter the Malaysian travel market with the launch of start-up Malindo Airlines will certainly see competition spruce up and intensify in the budget low cost sector and will pressure yields to move forward. AirAsia could see big holes in their profit margins once Malindo takes to the skies. Malindo is going after AirAsia's yellow brick road, the most profitable routes in Asia, like Kuching to Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu destinations. The last we heard of AirAsia's competitive deterrents was the announcement of plans for a premium carrier called Caterham Jet in retaliation of the now fizzled out Qantas RedQ project. Would the Caterham Jet project arise from the grave, since Batik is to launch this year?. With the arrival of the new carrier, Malindo is expected to increase tourism for both Malaysia and Indonesia.

Malindo Airlines destinations will include routes across Asia and the South Pacific. It is unclear as to whether the carrier will fly to Europe as the European Union Aviation Council has banned Lion Air from landing any planes in Europe. This is due to the Councils strict safety policies and Indonesia's flight safety record. In two historic deals with both Air Bus and Boeing where presidents and VIP's witnessed the signing of these historic plane orders, Malindo and the Lion group is set to be a major player not just in Asia but the rest of the world. Currently Malindo flys to the following destination such as Kuala Lumpur,
Kota Kinabalu and Kuching. Malindo plans to fly to destinations such as Labuan,
Sandakan,
Tawau,
Miri,
Bintutu,
Sibu,
Bali,
Surabaya,
Yogyakarta,
Bandung,
Jakarta,
Johor Bahru,
Kuala Terengganu,
Kota Bharu,
Macau,
Hong Kong,
Shenzhen,
Guangzhou,
Langkawi,
Pulau,
Medan,
Kolkata,
Delhi,
Ahmedabad,
Bombay,
Chennai,
Trichy and Cochin.

Luggage Regulations on Malindo is as follows: On-Board carry on luggage is limited to 1 bag per person with dimensions no bigger than 22x 14x 9 inches
and not weighing more than 7 kilograms. The airline allows a limitation for check in luggage to the quoter of 15 kilograms.
However this does not apply to business class where the baggage quoter is 30 kilograms.
If the baggage qouter is exceed for the different classes (Economy and Business), Malindo Airlines charges RM10 per kilogram. Air Malindo has mentioned it would be able to attract travellers from low cost airlines, such as Jetstar and AirAsia, as well as from premium service airlines, such as Singapore and Malaysian Airlines, by providing perks like hot food at low airfares.

Destination News: Delhi, Malindo to offer destinations in India. Malindo Airlines CEO Mr. Murthy announced that China and India, would be their first international destinations. Management at Malindo have echoed the great potential between Malaysia, China and India destinations. Malindo Air the hybrid airline is aiming to start operations and flights to its maiden New Del (Indian) destination in September later this year.Besides the New Delhi route, a spokeman form Malindo Airlines have mentined that they also received approvals to fly to Mumbai, and a few more other South Indian routes.

The airfare is almost 49% cheaper than what is being charged now for the destination generally. Malindo airlines
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operates Boeing's next generation 737-900ER jets (Extended Class). More so Malindo Airlines has indicated renewed interest in the destinations, to service as a feeder operation in the region. Malindo airlines is hot on the trails of AirAsia's entry into India, and given the fact that Indian aviation authority and rules do not permit new airlines to operate international destinations for the first 5 years of operations.

News: Malindo's inaugural flight took place on the 22 march from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu and landed at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) Terminal 1. By year ending 2013, Malindo Airways is expects to operate a number of B737-900ERs and has boldly predicted a 100 strong fleet within 10 years. The new carrier is to receive 6 B787 Dreamliners that were originally intended for Batik Airlines. Malindo Airlines is to use turbo propeller engines for operations out of Skypark Terminal in Subang. Routes will include Singapore, Subang to Sarawak and Sabah and will provide tough competition in the region for FireFly, which currently is the dominant carrier amoung those routes.

News Update: Malindo airlines receives landing rights to fly to Mumbai India.
The hybrid carrier has received the go-ahead to fly to India Mumbai as well as a few other South Indian routes.
It was reported earlier that the carrier would commence flights on the New Delhi-Kuala Lumpur-New Delhi route.
Malindo airlines is also likely to service flights to Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Trivandrum very soon. Travellers will use Malindo not only for flights to Kuching and Kuala Lumpur, but also flights to Singapore. Malindo's entry into these markets will spur price wars with Singapore Airlines and SilkAir. About 800,000 tourist from India has travelled to Malaysia as of last year.

Food Update on Malindo Airlines. It seems the airliner is taking steps to offer really tasty food on-board flights. We all know how airline food can be, well a bit like hospital food sometimes. Malindo is doing something differently. Malindo AirLines is now serving Spicy Chicken, Mutton Curry, Nasi kandar, Chicken Kurma and Achar on board its journeys, oh yum. This is a first for an airliner and the meals are made by the the popular original Penang Kayu Nasi Kandar chain of restaurants. Business Class can enjoy the nasi kandar meals for free.

Update: Malindo Air has just received it's (AOC) air operators certificate from DCA (The Department of Civil Aviation) to undertake commercial air operations. The approval marks a significant achievement for the airline to launch operations very soon. The carrier will offer both business and economy seating. The planes will be fitted with leather seats with pitch sizes of 45 inches (business) and 35 inches (economy). The carrier offers free baggage allowances of 15kg for economy class passengers and 30kg for business class passengers. Onboard facilities include an in-flight entertainment system (TV), light meals in economy and full meals in business class. Malindo to launch on the 22 march of this year. Update: Malindo Airlines ingural flights from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu landed at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) Terminal 1.